Hello Dear Reader,

(Froogs on Radio Cornwall - Click HERE - move the slider to the last hour)

I have a busy week ahead so I’m cooking once and eating twice………….every day. That means, we’ll take a portion of what we had for supper the night before into work the next day. It will save me time, money and I’ll have no need to think about one meal a day. The recipes today, all feed four and I hope they will be fine for your families too.

Here’s our main meal (and repeat performance for lunch the next day)

• Veggie Stew and herby dumplings,
• Meatballs, tomato sauce and pasta,
• Shepherdess Pie,
• Leek and Bacon Risotto,
• Massive Roast Dinner,
• Cheese, onion and broccoli quiche with coleslaw and salad.
• Carrot, kidney bean and cumin burgers, homemade oven chips and beans.

Vegetable stew with herby dumplings.

1 bag of casserole vegetables - £1 (Sold in Tesco, Asda and Morrisons)
150g of pearl barley or lentils.21p
1 litre of stock - 2 cubes with boiling water.4p
Heaped tablespoon of dry parsley/thyme.5p

Pop into the slow cooker for the day. When you get home, make the dumplings.

100g of SR Flour - 3p (Value flour)
50g - 25p
Add 5 tbsp of cold water
Mix and form into a dough.
Create dough balls and float on top of the stew.
Leave cooking for another 30 minutes.

Whilst cooking - steam half a bag of frozen broccoli 50p with four peeled and sliced carrots 30p
Total cost - £2.44 - 61p per person.

You can add more stock and more pearl barley to bulk this out. You can also add a sprinkle of gravy granules to thicken.

Meat balls, tomato sauce and pasta.

Meat balls - Half a 750g pack of minced beef - Keep the rest for the meatloaf - £1.37
2 value onions - very finely diced.- 12p
2 cloves garlic - very finely diced.5p
1/2 pack of value sausages, skinned. - Keep the rest for the meatloaf.- 33p
Salt and pepper.

Mix all of these ingredients together, form into balls - place on a baking tray and cook or fry in a non stick pan.

Tomato Sauce
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil - 6p
2 finely diced garlic cloves - 5p
1 tin of value chopped tomatoes - 34p

Warm the oil and add the garlic, then the tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes sauce and garlic is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook one pack of value penne - 25p.

Total cost - £2.54 - 64p per person

Shepherdess pie

1 pack of frozen casserole mix - £1
150g of red lentils - 27p
1 stock cube 5p
1/2 litre water
1 tbsp of mixed herbs 5p
1/3 bag of value potatoes - 40p
25g butter.10p
100g of grated cheese. 70p (I can buy that cheaper locally but I’m using major supermarket prices to be an average price for everyone)

Cook the lentils in the stock - 15- 30 minutes
Add the bag of casserole mix - simmer for 15- 30 until veg is soft.
Pour into a casserole dish.

Cook the potatoes, mash and add some butter. Layer the potato on top and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in a medium over (160) until cheese has melted as all the other ingredients are cooked.

Serve with one finely shredded and steamed savoy cabbage 69p

Total Cost £3.26 - 82p per person.

Leek and Bacon Risotto

500g bag of leeks - finely sliced - try and use all of the leeks except the roots and very tips. £1
Half a bag of cooking bacon (save the rest for the meatloaf) 40p - cut into small cubes.
Use the rest of the pack of pearl barley - you could use arborio rice, which I will too, but I hope to show you how to shop smart and use what you’ve already bought. 34p
4 garlic cloves - finely diced - 10p
50g of value butter - 20p
2 stock cubes - 4p
1 litre of water.
1/3 bag of mixed frozen veg - you will have the rest in another meal. - 33p

Melt the butter in a hot pan
Add the leeks, bacon, garlic and saute until bacon is cooked.
Add the pearl barley and frozen veg.
Coat well
Add the stock - 100ml at a time, keep stirring until absorbed - if you run out of stock and the pearl barley isn’t cooked, make up some more stock. Value Stock cubes are 2p each.

Total cost - £2.41 - 61p each.

Massive Roast Dinner! Very meaty meatloaf and all the trimmings.

Meatloaf
1/2 pack of minced beef - £1.37
1/2 pack of sausages - skinned - 33p
2 value onions - finely diced 12p
1/2 pack of cooking bacon - finely chopped - 40p
2 packs of value stuffing - 30p - follow instructions on pack
1 beaten - 22p
salt and pepper

Add all ingredients together along with stuffing made up as on pack.
Add to a large loaf tin - line this with greaseproof paper if you wish, it makes it easier to get out and slice.

Trimmings.

Yorkshire puddings
1 egg 22p
1 mug of flour - approx 250g - 5p
1 mug milk approx 250ml 15p
Pinch of salt
Beat the lot together
Pour into hot oil pudding tins and bake for 15 minutes until risen and fluffy.

Roasties - 1/3 bag of the value potatoes, washed and not peeled, cut into cubes and cook- in boiling water. 40p
Drain and toss in five tablespoons of sunflower oil 15p
Place onto a hot baking tray and bake in a hot oven - 30 - 40 minutes.

Serve with a shredded steamed savoy cabbage 69p
Sliced steamed and buttered carrots (8 carrots) 60p

Remove the meatloaf from the oven, leave to stand for 10 minutes - cut into 8 slices and each person gets 2 slices each, with roast potatoes, steamed veggies, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. For the gravy, we just use the value instant that we make with the ‘potato water’.

Total cost £5.00 - £1.25 per person.

Cheese, onion and Broccoli Quiche with salad and coleslaw.

Pastry

300g of plain flour - 9p
75g butter 30p
75g of lard (you can use all butter but it’s very difficult to handle) 30p
Salt
cold water to form to a dough. Chill before rolling out.

I blind bake my quiche in my metal loose bottomed quiche tin. If you don’t know how to do then, then use You tube to learn - blind baking pastry.

I make my pastry in a food processor but you can make it by hand. Never made it? check out how to make pastry on you tube.

Bechamel Sauce

250ml milk - or one cup/mug - 15p
1 heaped tbsp of plain flour 2p
25g of butter.10p

Melt the butter in a microwave safe jug - in the microwave
Blend the flour, salt and the milk.
Microwave on full power until thickened - leave to cool

1/2 bag of frozen broccoli - steamed and diced. - 50p
1 value onions finely chopped - saute in a little butter and add to the Bechamel sauce - 10p
200g grated mature cheddar - £1.40 - add to the bechamel sauce
4 beaten eggs (the rest of the eggs are in previous recipes). - add to the Bechamel sauce

Assemble your quiche.

Place the quiche pastry, still in the baking tin, on a baking tray.
Add the cooked broccoli
Pour on sauce which includes the beaten eggs, Bechamel sauce and grated cheese.

Bake at 180 for 35- 40 minutes.

Serve with a bag of value salad - 71p and a pot of value coleslaw - 25p

Total Cost - £2.96 - 74p each.

Carrot, Kidney Bean and Cumin burgers, homemade oven chips and beans. (Jack Monroe’s recipe)

2 tins baked beans - 48p
1/3 bag of value potatoes, sliced into chips, tossed in oil and baked on a baking tray. for 30 minutes - 40p

Burgers - make 8 burgers.

2 tins of value kidney beans - 60p
4 value carrots - finely grated - 25p
2 value onion - finely chopped - 20p
2 teaspoons of ground cumin - 10p
salt and pepper
flour for shaping
oil for frying - 10p

1. Rinse the kidney beans - cover with cold water, bring to the boil and then simmer until soft
2. Saute the onions, carrots and cumin.
3.When the kidney beans have softened - add the drained beans to the onion mixture.
4. Mash the kidney beans.
5. Mix all the ingredients together.
6.Form into burgers and fry. I use very little oil in a non stick pan.

To serve, 2 burgers, half a tin of beans and 1/4 of the chips per person.

Total Cost - £2.13 - 53p per person.

I have use Tesco Prices, and the maths is approximate in some places.


Meal plan for every evening meal for 4 people for 7 days - £18.33

I hope this helps people out for the week to come!

Happy Cooking,

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

(Listen in to Radio Cornwall tomorrow between 11 - 12 and Tracy Wilson and I will be discussing this very topic - Can you eat well on the cheap? email [email protected] to let us know your ideas)

I believe a family can eat well on less than could be expected. I will admit, it’s tight but I think a family of four can eat three balanced and nutritious meals a day for £40 a week. If not less and there are families who have less than that and still eat healthily.

Here’s how you could do it if you choose.

1. The easiest and most obvious is to eat at home. I don’t see food as a treat, just wholesome nutrition. Cooking at home means we know what we’re eating too. How much money would you save if you cooked all your own food? We aim to eat three meals a day for £3 each a day and we consider that to be a generous amount. I don’t see the need for ‘fine dining’ as being fed at home is good enough for me.

2. So you can eat at home, you need to plan ahead. Nothing fancy about menu planning. Having a menu plan, then creating a shopping list is the simplest way to eat cheaply. What ever you eat, you will reduce your shopping bill if you plan a week’s menu at a time.

3. Stock up on staples. We always have a plentiful supply of the staples to make our money go further. I make sure I always have stock cubes, herbs, spices, tinned tomatoes, flour, pasta, rice, lentils, chick peas ect. Having these means I’ve always got the building blocks of meals and a pinch of herbs, or a cup of lentils works out to be really cheap.

4. Choose the cheapest option. Again, this sounds like common sense but many people still will not shop in budget supermarkets or buy value products. I always buy value tinned tomatoes and potatoes, value flour and herbs and spices from the basic range. No one has ever complained when I’ve fed them or even noticed anything wrong. Look onto the bottom shelves for the value ranges and get yourselves off to Lidl, Aldi and Netto. Sometimes finding the cheapest options means shopping around and even looking at retailers such as Approved Food. You will halve your food bill by just shopping carefully.

5. Frozen Food - Currently, I can buy a cauliflower or broccoli very cheaply but throughout the year, the price fluctuates. If I can buy it cheaper frozen then I do. Steaming frozen veg helps it keep its flavour and colour. If I’m going to use broccoli in a quiche or have cauliflower with cheese sauce then frozen is always fine. The same goes for frozen fish or meat. I will happily buy both.

6. Cut down on meat or give it up. Meat is incredibly expensive. We eat less now that we used to. It’s not unusual for us to eat a beef casserole for Sunday lunch made from stewing beef and cooked gently in the slow cooker instead of a joint of meat. We started with a meat free day and now have more meat free days than meat days. We have a good local butchers but still stick to a mainly vegetable based diet to keep the costs affordable.

7. Plain cereals for breakfast - families seem to succumb to the pestering of their children, my own didn’t have the luxury of choice. We had survival incomes when they were home with us and it was porridge, corn flakes, bran flakes or rice crispies and always supermarket value versions. They might have had the tiniest quirt of honey to sweeten but there really was nothing fancy. All those years later, I’m still eating value porridge for breakfast or value cereals. They are cheap and after a while jam on toast is a significant treat and you can save that for Sunday. Breakfast really only needs to cost a few pennies a day.


8. Take your own lunch and coffee to work and wherever you go. We like to get out for the day and always take a back pack, flask and packed lunch. It means we can leave the house with nothing more than parking money and have a day out. Get your children used to this from being tiny and they will just have this as normal for years to come. We’ve had glorious walks in torrential rain and steamy car picnics. I’m always amazed when I see people buying food and drink on ferries and trains………..you know you’re going on a six hour journey, pack food and save a fortune!!

9. For some, there’s the option of growing your own. I’ve had success with salad and beans which I’ve grown in pots and funny containers. It’s easier than you think, fun and everyone loves freshly picked food. I shall put beans in soon and some salad seeds in a tiny veg patch. I chose our cottage so I could grow some veg in the garden.

10. Foraging. This might be beyond some people but so few people pick the hedgerow fruit anymore. If you see blossom, in the autumn you will see fruit. We pick black berries, crab apples, sloes and damsons and make jellies, jams and chutney. I can never understand why anyone would turn down free food.

Over to you Dear Reader. Who is up for the challenge of eating healthily for less? Who would like to take up the challenge of reducing their food bills? Who might disagree with me and think you can’t eat well on the cheap.

I would love it if you would contribute to tomorrow’s programme on Radio Cornwall. Send your thoughts on ‘cheap food’ to [email protected] and we’ll read your views out on the Radio. Alternatively, you may have real concerns about the rising costs of food and we’d love to hear your views. You can phone in on 01872 22 22 22 when I am on air with Tracy Wilson between 11 and 12 tomorrow.

We love getting your emails and sharing them on the radio.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

Happy St. George’s Day! We had to have something traditionally English for supper. Pork Sausages, cooked in a thick batter with onion gravy. Commonly known as Toad in the Hole.

You will need:

Oven heated to searingly hot.

1 pack of sausages, cooked in a shallow dish.
1 mug of plain flour,
1 egg,
1 mug of milk
Beat the egg, flour and milk together to form a batter.

Ours was made from gluten free flour, it works much better and is fluffier and rises better with wheat flour. Nonetheless, the batter was crispy around the edges and fluffy in the middle.

Cook for around 20 - 30 minutes.

We had ours with local kale, carrots and frozen peas.

The sausages were gluten free too (Black Farmer’s daughter brand and from Morrison’s) so they are quite expensive at £3 a pack, although with the fluffy batter and a pile of veggies, a pack would stretch to feed four. We stretched to two large meals and two small ones for our lunches tomorrow.

Over to you Dear Reader. Which traditional English recipes are your favourites? For me, it’s anything with sausages.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxx

Here’s what we had for supper. Haddock baked with spinach, tomatoes and topped with a cheese sauce. Prices per portion.

You will need - a frozen fish portion per person. 4oz or 100g is fine. 75p (Haddock from Morrisons)
100g of finely grated cheese (half for the cheese sauce and half to sprinkle on top) 25p
250ml milk (again, I use UHT and buy a month’s worth in one go, for cost and convenience) 6p
20g of butter 4p (10g for the sauce and 10g for the spinach)
2-3 heaped tablespoons of cornflour, 2p
100g of frozen spinach 5p
6 halved cherry tomatoes or two sliced tomatoes 6p
4 new potatoes - (100g each portion in weight) 5p
Green beans 100g each - 14p

Total cost per person £1.40

Place the spinach into a jug and microwave on full heat until the spinach is melted and wilted. Add a knob of butter and place in a casserole dish.
Cover with tomatoes.

Place the fish on top. Mine was partially defrosted but it’s OK cooked from frozen.

To make the cheese sauce, you will need a plastic jug and a microwave.
1. Melt the butter.
2. Stir in the flour and cheese.
3. Blend in the milk.
4. Microwave for five minutes and whisk.
5. Return to the microwave until thick.

Pour on top of the fish and veggies and sprinkle with cheese. Back in a scorchingly hot oven for 15 minutes if the fish is defrosted or 30 minutes if still frozen.

I served ours with steamed frozen green beans. We had new potatoes, on offer at 49p a bag in Aldi.

If you were using regular sized tomatoes, then slice, arrange on top and then sprinkle with grated cheese.

Fish always needs to be just cooked. Any more and it’s not great.

Over to you Dear Reader. Frozen? What do you think? Do you eat frozen food? We’re happy to but I know it’s not for every one. This certainly would have been a lot more than £1.40 per serving if the ingredients were all fresh.

I’ll be interested to hear what you have to say.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx